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And if it’s not the town, then it has to be the owners. Jones is the George Steinbrenner of the NFL. He’s the new Al Davis, obsessed with reclamation projects, convinced that he knows more about the game than people who have been working at it longer and harder than he ever could.
Contrast that with Pittsburgh, which is run by the Rooney family. The late Art Rooney was the patriarch. He presided over nearly three decades of unremittingly lousy football (except for 1947, when the Steelers lost the only playoff game they ever played between 1933 and 1972.), but he also hired the people who ushered in the next 40 years of excellence.
He didn’t tell the professionals he hired what to do. He just let them do it. When he died, the team was inherited by his fractious family. They’ve squabbled over ownership, but like Art Rooney, they never got in the way of the people who knew what they were doing.
They have a plan and they stick to it, absorbing the bumps in the road and keeping an eye on the goal. They also tend to get coaches who know what a town like Pittsburgh is all about. Noll grew up in Cleveland and played for the Browns. His successor, Bill Cowher, grew up in suburban Pittsburgh and also played for the Browns. Mike Tomlin, who has no prior Pittsburgh connection, in 2007 became just the third man to coach the team since Noll took over in 1969. At 36, he’s as young as they come on an NFL sideline, but like his predecessors, he’s one tough dude.
But that’s the Pittsburgh formula, which puts toughness ahead of flash, work ethic ahead of self-indulgence, team ahead of individual. It’s 40 years since Art Rooney hired Noll and started a dynasty. In that time, no team has been more consistent in approach and purpose.
Someday, the Cowboys will be back, whether under Jones or someone else. When they get it back together, don’t be surprised if they find the Steelers waiting for them. They’re the team that never goes away.
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